Dear friends of Mondo, we are so excited about our upcoming MAP expedition to a small village outside Cartagena, Colombia. We are working in partnership with a wonderful Utah based NGO, Eagle Condor Humanitarian (ECH),  that is committed to implementing lasting solutions to break generational poverty for children, families and communities. In Colombia, one center, Semillas de Amor “Seeds of Love”, works with 100 children who are served food each day by three caring volunteers. For most children, this is their only meal of the day. Seeds of Love is in a part of Cartagenia called “New Colombia” where children and families have been displaced due to war and violence in the region over many years. Most of the children served have handicaps and their caretakers are struggling to provide the basics for themselves and their children. ECH is raising funds to provide a youth shelter to serve the food, tutor the children and let them play in a safe and loving structure.  Check out the last blog from a current intern: This week has been awesome in Colombia!! We have completed the floor of the main room in the construction site, which is a big step forward. The process to set the floor was amazing to watch unfold. First, twenty buckets of sand had to be poured in with one giant bag of cement. After a good mixing, eight bags of rocks and ten buckets of water were added into the pile, completing the cement. Then the floor had to be leveled flat with sand dug up from a giant well being dug in the back of the construction site. Once all of this was set in place, the cement was poured, and then smoothed down with wooden poles. Once it was harden a red paint powder was smeared on top to make the floor even more beautiful! Everyone came and looked at the finished product and the kids were so excited to be one step closer to having a finished place for them to play. One child, Neiker, was so happy about the finished floor that he came running in during a tropical rainstorm two days after the floor was finished to make sure the floor was okay. He mopped it and then carried buckets of water off of the floor to keep it protected until we are able to put the roof up!  See video of the project here: Eagle Condor and Seeds of Love The Mondo Art Project, through generous donations, will be working with ECH and the children and local artists of the village to create beautiful murals on the walls of the community center. Our goal for our time there is to help Eagle Condor Humanitarian and Seeds of Love with the construction of the main gathering room, paint murals in the classroom, have an art exchange with the children that will also help with the content of the murals, and hope to collect enough art supplies to leave with them to keep creating art and expressing themselves artistically long after we leave. We currently have enough funds to conduct the art exchange, and paint murals in the classroom. However, we are still needing to raise funds to help plaster the cinder block walls so that we have a surface we can paint on. We would also love to collect enough art supplies to last the children (100 students) long after we leave. How to get involved If you would like to get involved with this project, there are many ways you/your family/your classroom can help! 1- Collect and donate art supplies: pencils, colored pencils, crayons, rulers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, paper 2- Donate directly to the project through Eagle Condor Humanitarian: http://eagle-condor.org/donate-page/ ECH is still in need of donations to see this community center completely finished (kitchen, electrical, plumbing, and roof). Even a little donation goes a LONG way! 3- Donate drawings for the art exchange. Your child's drawings will be taken over to the students in the village.  Please use paper with dimensions 8.5"x 11", using crayons or colored pencils. As for content, encourage your child to express whatever is important to them, and that they would like to share with our Colombian children. We will collect drawings before our trip to present to the children upon our arrival and will bring drawings back from children that want to participate in the exchange. 4- Go on an expedition! Eagle Condor Humanitarian will be offering an expedition late 2012/ early 2013 back to the village to complete the building, part of the expedition fees go directly to the costs of the project, and you'll get the opportunity to experience the beautiful people and landscape of Colombia. See a video of their expedition last December when construction started: 2011 Colombia Expedition If you would like to help us meet our goals, please contact Mikell at mikell@mondofineart.com.  Thank you! Hasta Luego!